Column by Joanna Brichetto

This month's best new lifestyles books include the ultimate crochet guide, a new manifesto for sharing your creative work, plus a how-to for gardeners who understand the importance of a few little bugs.

Column by Sukey Howard

Billy Collins, a two-term Poet Laureate of the United States who can fill large auditoriums and appears on “A Prairie Home Companion,” has made poetry miraculously accessible without dumbing it down or making it any less profound. His voice is plain but eloquent, his style easy, without complicated meter; he makes the ordinary meaningful and the everyday beautiful. His latest collection, Aimless Love, is his first in a dozen years.

Lifestyles Column by Joanna Brichetto

“Cult favorite” wedding blog StyleMePretty branches into book mode with Style Me Pretty Weddings by Abby Larson. This gorgeously illustrated volume is sure to have a broad appeal beyond its built-in blog readership. The allure of style choices will be irresistible to anyone planning a “bespoke wedding,” the wonderfully old-fashioned term for a marriage ceremony...

Lifestyles Column by Joanna Brichetto

In Would It Kill You to Stop Doing That?, investigative humorist Henry Alford tries “to hold up a magnifying glass to unattractive habits that I stumble upon, be they my own or others’.” His piercing gaze is aided by etiquette experts like Miss Manners, Tim Gunn and Dr. Ruth as well as everyday folks: a cab driver, a librarian, a former prisoner and many others. What exactly...

Audio Column by Gregory Harris

As he approached the age of 40, Joe Kita did what many men his age have done: took stock of his life. Despite his successful career as a writer for Men's Health magazine and a wonderful marriage, Kita realized that he had regrets. So far his story sounds familiar, but then the author took the unusual step of setting out to rectify his life's regrets. He shares the story of that quest in Another...

Audio Column by Marsha VandeBerg

Jimmy Carter is getting into the act of promoting positive aging. In his 12th book, The Virtues of Aging, the former President joins America's luminaries on this increasingly popular topic in exuding confidence in the good life after 65 and exhorting each and every one of us to follow suit. All should decide on a life path which, above all, centers on giving us a purpose, quality...